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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! Now that I don’t live at home with my parents and sisters anymore, I have become so appreciative of holiday season with the family. Especially since this semester has been a stressful one, I am very excited to head home next Tuesday for Thanksgiving! I randomly came across an article about Thanksgiving and its history and it was very interesting to me. I decided to make an infographic on the history and facts about Thanksgiving day.

Hope you like it!

I couldn’t believe it took so long for Thanksgiving to become an official holiday!

Happy Thursday everyone! Tonight I decided to make tilapia, risotto, and asian vegetables. Tilapia is one of my favorite things to buy because it is so affordable no matter what store you go to. Sometimes I can buy it for $4.99 at Aldi!

It all started with a box of risotto my mom sent me in the mail. She knows I love to cook (since she taught me) and i was in the mood for some rice and vegetables.

I was really happy my mom sent me this box because she makes risotto at home all the time. She doesn’t use the pre-seasoned boxes though. My mom is such a talented cook and she can make anything from scratch. Some day, I really hope I can be as good as her in the kitchen.

Back to dinner, I like to have each dinner consist with a protein but I wasn’t in the mood for chicken. I remembered I had the frozen tilapia so I took that out of the freezer to thaw around noon today. Each piece is individually packaged so it’s very convenient for one person.

This risotto was very easy to cook because it already had the seasoning in it. All I had to do was put the seasoning and risotto in a pot with 2 1/2 cups of water. The risotto takes about 30 minutes to cook so I started that first.

Below is the piece of tilapia I thawed out. I placed it in a pan after I sprayed the pan with cooking spray.

Then, I put panko bread crumbs on the tilapia. Panko bread crumbs are the most versatile ingredient to have on hand at all times. I put it on a lot of my proteins with dinner!

The tilapia cooks for about 20 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Another plus about tilapia is that it cooks so fast!

Once the fish was in the oven, I took my asian blend vegetables out of the freezer from Giant Eagle. They were super affordable and I make a handful at a time. Technically, you can steam them in the bag in the microwave but, since I am only cooking for one I just cook as much as I need. Typically I buy Green Giant, but I wanted to give the Giant Eagle brand a try since it was a bit less expensive!

Below is the risotto once it is finished. It’s similar to rice but thicker with seasoning. It’s almost like a cheesy texture.

Once the fish is done, some of the panko bread crumbs will be brown. I like it that way because then they are extra crunchy. Below is a picture of my finished meal! I drizzled a miso ginger dressing from giant eagle over the top of the fish and vegetables. I went to the store on a good day because I got two dressing for one price! If you are new to cooking, making all three things at once can be tricky. I suggest making the rice and fish at the same time and then the vegetables last. The vegetables are the easiest to cook and you can keep the risotto covered once its finished cooking.

Last night I made my own healthy chicken tenders. I adapted this recipe from this blog, Love to be in the kitchen. After making hers a few times, I slowly made it into my own! I do this often because it is so quick! It adds a nice twist to my dinners because I usually just cook my chicken right on a pan. This recipe is so simple! You will all love it!

Let start with the ingredients. The only ingredients you need are:

1 egg (whisked)

chicken tenderloins (thawed out)

flour

panko bread crumbs

baking sheet

Once you have all your ingredients ready, you can preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Then, Rinse your chicken with water and place on a plate for when you are ready.

Combine your flour and panko bread crumbs into a bowl. I use 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs for two tenderloins. I never use it all but it makes it easier to cover the chicken when you have more than you need.

Once your egg is whisked and your dry ingredients are mixed, you are ready to prepare your chicken! All you need to do is completely dip your chicken in the whisked egg, and then dip it in the dry ingredients! Make sure your chicken is completely covered in the flour and bread crumbs. Once you’ve done that, you can place them on a baking sheet. Make sure you spray your sheet with cooking spray before you put your chicken on top to ensure an easier clean up!

The chicken cooks for twenty minutes. I flip them over after ten minutes so the dry ingredients are evenly crispy.

As the chicken was cooking, I prepared a salad to lay the chicken on.

On Monday, I went grocery shopping at Acme and got a great deal on bagged lettuce. It was buy one get one and since I make so many salads, I could not pass that deal up.

I grabbed two handfuls of lettuce and put them on my plate. Then, I cut up tomatoes, onions and cucumbers to place on top.

Once I finished preparing my salad, the chicken had been cooking for about 10 minutes so it was time for me to flip the chicken. I used a spatula to flip it over because it can be very hot! During the next ten minutes, I cleaned all my dishes so I didn’t have to do them after dinner.

Below is a picture of what the chicken will look like after twenty minutes. I cut the piece on the left to make sure the inside was no longer pink.

I know they are not the most perfect looking chicken tenders, but they taste really good!